School employee arrested in Scotland could face Robeson charges, too

By Abbi Overfelt aoverfelt@civitasmedia.com

July 10, 2014

LAURINBURG — A Fairmont High School employee, accused by Laurinburg police last month with stealing and using an ex-girlfriend’s debit card, now faces several felonies related to break-ins in Robeson and Scotland counties, according to Scotland County sheriff’s Capt. Jon Edwards.

Robert Goins, 29, of 9841 S. Turnpike Road, Laurinburg, was arrested Wednesday and is being held in the Scotland County jail under a $45,000 bond for five counts each of felonious breaking and entering and felonious larceny after breaking and entering in Scotland County, Edwards said.

Edwards expects additional charges will be filed in Robeson County. Goins could also face charges of obtaining property by false pretense in South Carolina, Edwards said, because several items stolen from Scotland County homes have turned up in pawn shops across the state line.

Stolen property valued at $8,000 has been recovered so far, Edwards said. The haul is comprised mostly of lawn and power tools but also includes electronics.

“His name started coming up in interviews,” Edwards said, “… and then we started checking pawn shops.”

According to Tasha Oxendine, spokesperson for the Public Schools of Robeson County, Goins is a non-classified employee and works as a “technical lab facilitator.” His personnel file also lists him as “coach support staff,” but it does not appear that he has worked with any of the school’s teams recently.

Goins was hired last March, Oxendine said. His job status had not changed as of Thursday.

Oxendine said the school system had no comment at this time.

According to Edwards, Goins broke into the homes of people he knew.

“He went to church with some of them,” he said.

Goins was arrested last month by Laurinburg police and charged with one count of obtaining property by false pretense, three counts of attempting to obtain property by false pretense, one count of breaking and entering and one count of larceny, according to Assistant Police Chief Cliff Sessoms.

The charges stemmed from an investigation conducted after a Laurinburg woman, whom Sessoms said once dated Goins, reported that her debit card had been stolen and used to make a $5.27 purchase at a local store.

Goins attempted to make three additional purchases, all of which were declined.